S07E03 | Reclaimed Melodies: Martin R. Delany, Joshua McCarter Simpson, and Stephen Foster

C19: America in the 19th Century

In this episode, Paul Fess (LaGuardia Community College) explores the connections between Martin Delany and the songwriters Joshua McCarter Simpson and Stephen Foster. Embedded in the mix of Delany’s novel Blake; or, The Huts of America are several songs that invoke some of Foster’s most familiar melodies, such as those associated with the songs “Oh! Susanna” and “Uncle Ned.” Digging through the archive, scholars have discovered these parodies to be the work of the relatively obscure Joshua McCarter Simpson, an activist in Ohio’s Colored Conventions movement, a conductor on the underground railroad, and, with the publication of his Original Anti-Slavery Songs, the first African American to produce a songbook of original compositions. This episode examines how Delany and Simpson strategically repurpose Foster's sentimentalism-infused melodies, navigating the racial complexities of antebellum culture. While Foster aimed to soften the degrading aspects of minstrelsy, Delany and Simpson use these melodies to create a Black abolitionist discourse, challenging sentimental aesthetics. The novel's characters, like Simpson's lyrics, redefine the nostalgic longing in Foster's songs, emphasizing the harsh realities of enslaved life. Delany and Simpson employ music as a tool for political activism, crafting a counterhegemonic discourse and fostering a sense of collective resistance against enslavement. Post-production support provided by DeLisa D. Hawkes (University of Tennessee, Knoxville). Transcript available at https://bit.ly/S07E03Transcript. Additional resources available at https://bit.ly/S07E03Resources.